Household allocations and endogenous information: The case of split migrants in Kenya

Joost De Laat

doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2013.09.003

Household allocations and endogenous information: The case of split migrants in Kenya

Joost De Laat^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

World Bank

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

One of the main elements separating different models of intrahousehold allocations is the household information set. This paper tests for the endogeneity of the household information set in a context where household members cannot observe each other easily: spousal information in the context of split urban migration in Kenya. Based on unique data, it finds that split migrant couples in the Nairobi slums invest considerable resources into information acquisition substituting visits, monitoring by siblings, and budget submissions before remitting. Comparisons of pre-marital search characteristics between current split and joint migrants are consistent with the hypothesis that those anticipating split migration change their marital search behavior to mitigate the consequences of pending imperfect information.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	108-117
Number of pages	10
Journal	Journal of Development Economics
Volume	106
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2013.09.003
Publication status	Published - Jan 2014
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
I thank Brown University , the Social Science Research Council Program in Applied Economics , and the Population Council for the financial support. I am grateful to the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) in Nairobi and everyone who assisted in data collection. I am grateful to two anonymous reviewers, Alex Ezeh, Mark Pitt, Vernon Henderson, Pierre Dubois, Michael Kremer, William Jack, seminar participants at NEUDC, Brown University, Harvard Development Lunch, Université de Montreal, UQAM, and McMaster University, and particularly Andrew Foster for many helpful comments. All remaining errors are mine.

Funding

I thank Brown University , the Social Science Research Council Program in Applied Economics , and the Population Council for the financial support. I am grateful to the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) in Nairobi and everyone who assisted in data collection. I am grateful to two anonymous reviewers, Alex Ezeh, Mark Pitt, Vernon Henderson, Pierre Dubois, Michael Kremer, William Jack, seminar participants at NEUDC, Brown University, Harvard Development Lunch, Université de Montreal, UQAM, and McMaster University, and particularly Andrew Foster for many helpful comments. All remaining errors are mine.

Keywords

Intra-household resource allocation
Migration

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jdeveco.2013.09.003

Cite this

@article{fa4e43310f5641b7a7c97a04814e87ad,

title = "Household allocations and endogenous information: The case of split migrants in Kenya",

abstract = "One of the main elements separating different models of intrahousehold allocations is the household information set. This paper tests for the endogeneity of the household information set in a context where household members cannot observe each other easily: spousal information in the context of split urban migration in Kenya. Based on unique data, it finds that split migrant couples in the Nairobi slums invest considerable resources into information acquisition substituting visits, monitoring by siblings, and budget submissions before remitting. Comparisons of pre-marital search characteristics between current split and joint migrants are consistent with the hypothesis that those anticipating split migration change their marital search behavior to mitigate the consequences of pending imperfect information.",

keywords = "Intra-household resource allocation, Migration",

author = "{De Laat}, Joost",

note = "Funding Information: I thank Brown University , the Social Science Research Council Program in Applied Economics , and the Population Council for the financial support. I am grateful to the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) in Nairobi and everyone who assisted in data collection. I am grateful to two anonymous reviewers, Alex Ezeh, Mark Pitt, Vernon Henderson, Pierre Dubois, Michael Kremer, William Jack, seminar participants at NEUDC, Brown University, Harvard Development Lunch, Universit{\'e} de Montreal, UQAM, and McMaster University, and particularly Andrew Foster for many helpful comments. All remaining errors are mine. ",

year = "2014",

month = jan,

doi = "10.1016/j.jdeveco.2013.09.003",

language = "English",

volume = "106",

pages = "108--117",

journal = "Journal of Development Economics",

issn = "0304-3878",

publisher = "Elsevier BV",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Household allocations and endogenous information

T2 - The case of split migrants in Kenya

AU - De Laat, Joost

N1 - Funding Information: I thank Brown University , the Social Science Research Council Program in Applied Economics , and the Population Council for the financial support. I am grateful to the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) in Nairobi and everyone who assisted in data collection. I am grateful to two anonymous reviewers, Alex Ezeh, Mark Pitt, Vernon Henderson, Pierre Dubois, Michael Kremer, William Jack, seminar participants at NEUDC, Brown University, Harvard Development Lunch, Université de Montreal, UQAM, and McMaster University, and particularly Andrew Foster for many helpful comments. All remaining errors are mine.

PY - 2014/1

Y1 - 2014/1

N2 - One of the main elements separating different models of intrahousehold allocations is the household information set. This paper tests for the endogeneity of the household information set in a context where household members cannot observe each other easily: spousal information in the context of split urban migration in Kenya. Based on unique data, it finds that split migrant couples in the Nairobi slums invest considerable resources into information acquisition substituting visits, monitoring by siblings, and budget submissions before remitting. Comparisons of pre-marital search characteristics between current split and joint migrants are consistent with the hypothesis that those anticipating split migration change their marital search behavior to mitigate the consequences of pending imperfect information.

AB - One of the main elements separating different models of intrahousehold allocations is the household information set. This paper tests for the endogeneity of the household information set in a context where household members cannot observe each other easily: spousal information in the context of split urban migration in Kenya. Based on unique data, it finds that split migrant couples in the Nairobi slums invest considerable resources into information acquisition substituting visits, monitoring by siblings, and budget submissions before remitting. Comparisons of pre-marital search characteristics between current split and joint migrants are consistent with the hypothesis that those anticipating split migration change their marital search behavior to mitigate the consequences of pending imperfect information.

KW - Intra-household resource allocation

KW - Migration

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84884939963&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2013.09.003

DO - 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2013.09.003

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84884939963

SN - 0304-3878

VL - 106

SP - 108

EP - 117

JO - Journal of Development Economics

JF - Journal of Development Economics

ER -

Household allocations and endogenous information: The case of split migrants in Kenya

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this